


Day 037

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [37]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:49:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22602007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Summary: Looks like this didn't upload properly yesterday.
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [37]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 1





	Day 037

**Author's Note:**

> Looks like this didn't upload properly yesterday.

To say that Jeb was unhappy with the arrangement would have been a massive understatement. The house stank of elf and the room Merrill had put them in was filled with dirty dishes and a giant creepy mirror that had no reflection. Brennan was making plans for escape but Jeb was more concerned with their host. It was clearly elves against humans in this standoff and he and Brennan were the only leverage the elves seemed to have. Why the she-elf hadn’t turned them in immediately was a mystery but it was only a matter of time and Jeb was not content to sit around waiting. He had ranked the spoons and plates on how helpful they would be in a fight and had amassed a collection of plated he figured he could throw with accuracy, as well as an unusually pointy spoon. Brennan had scoffed at his preparations, but she wasn’t being particularly useful herself at the moment.

Brennan had refused to take watch, insisting that if Merrill wanted to betray them there was nothing they could do about it anyway. So Jeb was awake long after the guardswoman had gone to sleep. Merrill had seemingly gone to sleep at sundown and everything was quiet but you didn’t get through basic training under Aveline without learning how to stay awake and focused through a long and boring night.

He was therefore the first in the house to hear the knocking on the door. As quietly as he could, he woke Brennan and gathered his plates and spoon, ready to act if things went the way he expected. Brennan would have tried to stop him if he had taken up a position so he kneeled down with his weapons, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. It took Merrill longer then Jeb would have guessed to wake up and answer the door.

“Merrill, I need to ask you some questions,” Jeb recognized the voice as their captor.

“Noll,” Merrill replied. “What are you doing here? Is everything alright, I guess it's not, why would you be here in the middle of the night if everything was going well.”

“Merrill is there anyone else here tonight?” The captor again.

“No, just me. No one really comes to visit you know.”

“I know you are close with the Champion. He hasn't been here recently?”

“No. He’s staying at his uncle’s house.”

“Why are you sleeping in your living room?”

Jeb was done waiting. Whether or not Merrill was going to turn them in on purpose, she was a terrible liar and they were about to lose the element of surprise. He burst into the living room tossing plated at every pointy ear he saw. Merrill took one in the back of the head and tumbelled forwards, a blond elf avoided two plates by dodging and weaving. Stupid willey rabbits. The third elf was in a big black cloak. Jeb was out of plates, so he jammed his spoon into the side of the elf’s neck. He was three steps out the door when he froze in place.

No matter how he struggled, he could not get his limbs to move. Something inside him was resisting and it the more he struggled the more it felt like his insides were trying to escape. His body turned around and walked back to the house. He could see Brennan in the house staring at him in horror. Merrill was caught between her and the blond elf who had daggers drawn but not pointed anywhere in particular.

The Cloaked elf had removed the spoon but the blood was not spurting from his neck. Instead a few drops came out at a time and evaporated somewhere between the elf and Jeb. He could feel the mage reach into his mind blood working inside his skull changing things.

“We need him alive,” the blond elf said.

“Don’t worry about that,” said the bloodmage. “When I am done with him he will be quite alive, but also amenable to what you need of him.”

The mage didn’t mean Jeb any harm. That was a comfortable thought. In fact none of the elves had done anything to harm either him or Brennan. The only confrontations had been started by the humans. Again and again it was the humans who caused problems and the elves who faced the consequences, it was only natural that they tried to fight back, what else could they do. 

He realized with a sudden horror what was happening. Aveline was forcing a standoff with the elves that would end in a bloodbath. That was not the way. The way was to work with the elves to create a climate where they didn’t feel like they had to fend for themselves. This was all a terrible misunderstanding and he had to fix it.

“Please,” he said. “Let me talk to the captain. I will arrange for the best possible solution here. One that improves things for you here.”

The blonde elf looked to the nice mage who nodded. Merrill and Brennan looked disturbed. They were probably worried about the situation. They were at a critical moment and it was all up to him.

The blond elf led him to a side entrance to the Alienage and made sure the elven guards let him through. The human guards were much easier to deal with, they brought him straight to Aveline without any fuss.

“Guard Captain,” He said offering her his best salute. “We have much to discuss. I think I have a way we can resolve the situation.”


End file.
